Elizabeth line strike: TfL service’s anniversary marked by walkouts over pay

The first anniversary of the opening of the Elizabeth line in central London will be marked by strike action.

Operational staff are set to walk out on Wednesday May 24 as part of an ongoing dispute over pay.

The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) says that many staff are paid “tens of thousands of pounds less” than colleagues performing similar roles on other parts of the Transport for London (TfL) network.

The Elizabeth line, which stretches from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east is currently one of the busiest railways in the country.

This is the second strike on the new line, after TSSA and Prospect union members took action in the same dispute on January 12.

An overtime ban will also run from May 27 to  June 4.

TSSA members work in roles including traffic managers, service and infrastructure, and incident response manager grades.

The strike action comes just three days after the third and final stage of the Elizabeth line’s opening.

On Sunday May 21 the peak hours frequencies will increase to 24 trains an hour in central London and there will be direct trains to and from Heathrow from the line’s Essex branch, which runs to Shenfield via Stratford.

TSSA organising director Mel Taylor said, “We’ve been in talks with management for almost a year now, yet the majority of our members have been offered an uplift of just over 1% to make up for the huge pay differentials.

“Elizabeth Line staff work weekends, nights and even Christmas Day, operating the world’s only fully digital railway, but many earn less than two thirds of the salary paid to other TfL staff in similar roles. Our members don’t want to have to take strike action, but they’ve had enough.”

Howard Smith, director of the Elizabeth line, said: “Strikes are bad news for everyone, and we have worked with the TSSA to try to resolve this dispute, including undertaking a separate benchmarking exercise to review the competitiveness of the salary ranges on offer.

“We urge them to continue to work with us rather than resorting to industrial action.”